


Cool, Calm, Clinical

by Dragongoddess13



Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [8]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Friends to Lovers, Ghost Whisperer AU, Medical Procedures, Medical Trauma
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:42:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24492190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragongoddess13/pseuds/Dragongoddess13
Summary: Stag’s Head Clinic sits on the corner of Piedmont and Spearhead in downtown King’s Landing. It’s a ten minute walk from her home several blocks to the south. The facade is a clean white washed stone and the sign above the door looks new despite it being several years old. This clinic is one of several throughout King’s Landing and several more throughout Westeros. Most of the time it acts like an Urgent Care, but it’s open to all, especially lower income families who can’t afford to miss work for doctor’s appointments. The clinic provides no questions asked care, making it a bane to the local police who, according to Stannis, have tried on more than one occasion to force them to cooperate when someone has come in with a gunshot wound or any other crime related injury. Arya had had to assure Stannis that her relationship with Jon and Gendry would not interfere with her duties.
Relationships: Arya Stark/Gendry Waters
Series: Ghost Whisperer AU [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1715362
Comments: 54
Kudos: 154





	1. The Boy She Can't Save

**Author's Note:**

> Please remember I am not a doctor, have no medical experience outside my own experience with the American Health Care System and can only repeat what I know from talking to family members in the medical field as well as a bit of research on my own. 
> 
> This fic, narrative wise, is what I would consider a turning point.

Cool, Calm, Clinical

Chapter 1: The Boy She Can’t Save

xXx

Stag’s Head Clinic sits on the corner of Piedmont and Spearhead in downtown King’s Landing. It’s a ten minute walk from her home several blocks to the south. The facade is a clean white washed stone and the sign above the door looks new despite it being several years old. This clinic is one of several throughout King’s Landing and several more throughout Westeros. Most of the time it acts like an Urgent Care, but it’s open to all, especially lower income families who can’t afford to miss work for doctor’s appointments. The clinic provides no questions asked care, making it a bane to the local police who, according to Stannis, have tried on more than one occasion to force them to cooperate when someone has come in with a gunshot wound or any other crime related injury. Arya had had to assure Stannis that her relationship with Jon and Gendry would not interfere with her duties. 

Taking a deep breath, Arya steals herself, walking through the front door accompanied by a toning chime. The receptionist, a young redhead in her early twenties, looks up as she walks in and smiles. 

“Can I help you?” 

“Yes, I’m here to meet with Dr. Cleaver. I’m Arya, the new resident.” 

The receptions smile brightens. “Welcome Dr. Stark, I’m Jane.” she offers her hand which Arya accepts with a smile of her own. “Mycah is in the office,” Jane continues, turning and pointing down the long hallway behind the reception desk. “All the way to the end of the hall.” 

“Thank you.” she replies, making her way in that direction. The hall is lined with rooms, which she notes are all exam rooms, except for the two on the end which are restrooms. At the very end is a closed door, three metal name plates fastened to the surface. Each one already has a name engraved on it;

_ Dr. Mycah Cleaver, MD _

_ Nancy Fulmer, FNP _

_ Dr. Arya Stark, MD, F.I.C.S _

She smiles, a warmth settling in her chest. It’s been so long since she’s seen her name accompanied by her professional titles without feeling overwhelming dread and a sense of failure. She feels hope bloom in the empty space of her chest. 

Arya knocks on the door, walking in when she gets a response on the other side. Mycah, who she remembers from medical school, smiles as he sees her, standing from the desk on the far end of the room. Micah is of medium height with sandy blonde hair. He’s a year younger than her, she remembers, but looks to be the same age. He pulls her into a hug as he approaches. 

“It’s so good to see you again.” he tells her as he pulls away. “When Stannis said you were coming to work with us, I was surprised to say the least. I thought you would have gone back to KL General.” 

“Baby steps.” she replies. “It’s been a little too long for me to just jump right back into the fray like that.” 

“Understandable.” he nods. “Well, let’s jump right in with a tour. This is the office obviously.” he gestured around the room. The room is rather large, fitting three desks and several file cabinets. At the far end is a set of windows, the desk Micah was working at sitting directly in front of them. To the left is a second desk covered in papers and files and to the right a third sitting empty save for a small stack of basic office supplies still in their plastic packaging. “That’ll be your desk. The other belongs to Nancy, she’s our resident Nurse Practitioner specializing in family medicine. We have a few other doctors and NPs that come and go on a volunteer basis, but myself, Nancy and now you are the residents professionals.”

Mycah spends the hour before the clinic opens to regular patients showing her around and introducing her to the nursing staff. The clinic itself is two stories plus a basement storeroom. On the main floor are the exam rooms, offices, reception and waiting room. On the second floor is another waiting room and an operating suite which is up to date, but clearly isn’t used much. The operating room shares the floors with a large, open plan recovery room. 

“Now that you’re here, we’ll be able to accept emergency patients everyday instead of only when the volunteer surgeon can come in.” Mycah tells her as she inspects the equipment. Before she can reply, however, one of the nurses she had been introduced to earlier, an older woman by the name of Carrie, rushes in. 

“We need help downstairs. A young man just came in with stab wounds. He’s bleeding heavily.” 

Arya doesn’t really remember what happens next in great detail, only that she turns from inspecting the equipment in the OR and walks quickly down the stairs. She doesn’t know if Mycah is right behind her, but she assumes he is as he appears not long after she steps into the exam room where they’ve brought the young man. She steps up the table, fitting herself in next to one of the nurses, Sara, she remembers, who is applying pressure to the bleeding wounds. She takes over for Sara, remembering that she is one of three surgical nurses on staff. 

“Prep the OR.” she tells her, and the nurse turns, jogging away without a second thought. Mycah moves to the other side of the table after having washed up and slipped on a gown. He takes over applying pressure as Arya steps away to do the same, all the while instructing the surgical nurses what needs to be done. 

The young man has a darker complexion, but he’s lost so much blood he’s paled considerably. He’s been stabbed three times and by all accounts he should not still be conscious. He’s soaked with sweat and his breathing is labored as Arya leans over him again. 

“Can you tell me your name?” she asks as she works to stabilize him. She can’t perform any sort of invasive surgery while he’s bleeding so heavily. 

“Danny.” he says, his voice a wheezing gasp. 

“Okay Danny, I need you to try to relax as much as possible. Just stay still, clear your mind and let us take care of you, okay?” she says. Danny nods, leaning back and closing his eyes. 

It takes longer than she’d like to stabilize him, but the minute he is, she sends him upstairs with the other two nurses. 

“Hell of a way to start your first day.” Mycah says as she strips off the now bloody gown and gloves. 

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.” she replies, grabbing a pair of scrubs from the rack in the supply room and changing quickly. When she’s done, she makes her way upstairs and spends the rest of the morning in the operating room. 

xXx

“I got you something from the cafe down the street.” Mycah tells her as she collapses, exhausted into her chair. 

“Thanks.” she replies, closing her eyes and leaning back in the chair. She takes a few minutes to collect herself then gets up and goes to change back into the casual suit she had worn in that morning. She eats lunch at her desk as she writes up the paper work on Danny, making notes for the nurses who will be keeping an eye on him throughout the night. 

After lunch, Arya sees a few patients in the queue before heading up to the recovery room to check on Danny. He’s awake, though not looking much better than he had that morning. 

“Hey,” she says softly, drawing his attention. “How are you feeling?” she asks. 

“Tired.” he replies simply. 

“Understandable, you lost a lot of blood.” she tells him. “Thankfully none of the wounds nicked an artery, but there was still quite a bit of heavy trauma to your internal organs.” 

“What does that mean?” he asks. “Am I gonna die?” 

“Not if you take care of yourself.” she explains. “You’re going to be recovering for a very long time, but if you do everything the doctors at the hospital tell you, you should be just fine.” 

The heart monitors spikes, the beeps growing rapid and closer together. “Hospital? What about this place, can’t I stay here?” 

“For now yes.” she says, remaining calm. “But eventually you will need more care than we can provide.” she hesitates. “Do you know who did this to you?” 

The monitor spikes once, twice then returns to normal. “Yes.” he says softly. 

“Do you want us to call the police?” 

The monitor spikes again as he shakes his head, wincing at the movement. “Please no.” 

“Okay, we won’t. But Danny, if someone is after you, then can help keep you safe.” 

He shakes his head again, this time ignoring the pain and Arya is struck with how scared he looks. “No, it’s not safe, for anyone.” he insists. 

“Okay.” she nods. Arya works until six that evening before going home to left overs and b-horror movies. 

That night as she drifts to sleep, her dreams take shape within her mind. They’re jumbled and near comprehensible and when she wakes the next morning, all she remembers clearly is a scream and a voice proclaiming his innocence. 

_ “I’m not a narc.”  _

xXx

Arya walks into the clinic to find familiar faces talking rather heatedly with Mycah in the office. 

“We go through this with you people everytime something happens and the answer is still the same. No. this is a private institution and unless you have a warrant we have no requirement to allow you to talk to our patients.” 

“What’s going on?” Arya speaks up before Jon can reply, and they all turn to find her standing just inside the doorway. Both Jon and Gendry look confused to see her there dressed in black slacks and a navy blue button up. She walks further in, setting her bag on her desk. 

“What are you doing here?” Jon asks. 

“Dr. Stark is our new resident physician and onsite surgeon.” Mycah explains, much to their surprise. Well, Jon’s surprise. Gendry looks decidedly pleased. She’s not sure how to handle that or even what to make of it. 

“You’re practicing again?” Jon questions. 

“I am, and unless something came up last night, I can only assume you’re here for my patient from yesterday.” she replies. 

“Danny Sucro.” Mycah adds, finally having a full name for the young man. 

“He’s a suspect in a homicide, we need to ask him a few questions.” Gendry explains. 

“I’m sorry.” she shakes her head. “But that will have to wait until he’s transferred to KL General in a few days.” she replies, much to the surprise of both men. Clearly they had expected their personal ties to influence her answer. 

“It can’t wait that long.” Gendry insists. 

“It will have to. Not only is what Dr. Cleaver said, absolute, Danny is not in any condition to speak to anyone who may unnerve him. I just barely managed to stabilize him. The only reason we haven’t already transferred him to the hospital is because there’s too much risk his wounds will reopen if we try to move him in his current state.” she shakes her head. “The stress alone could send him into cardiac arrest.” 

Jon sighs. “Can you answer any questions?” 

“I will answer what I can without compromising Hippa laws.” she replies. 

“How was his demeanor?” Gendry asks. 

“Terrified. He knows who attacked him.” she explains. “I asked him if he wanted us to contact the police, as is protocol.”

“And what did he say?” Jon questions, suddenly very interested. 

“He was adamant it wouldn’t be safe for anyone if he talked to the police.” 

“What about his injuries?” 

“That falls under Hippa guidelines I’m afraid.” 

Jon sighs. “Fine, we’ll figure something else out.” he mutters.

Arya has known Jon her entire life, obviously, and growing up they had been closer than any of their other family members. He had been more of an older brother to her than even Robb. She would even go so far as to say he had been her best friend, even before Lommy. She’d learned over the years to read his moods and what he was thinking even through the stoic expressions he tended to wear. Now, his demeanor was troubling. 

Arya knew next to nothing about this case, save for what she could extrapolate from Danny’s wounds and reactions. That being said, whatever was going on with it had Jon on edge to a degree that even Gendry looked concerned. 

“Do you mind if I use your restroom before we go?” Jon asks. She shakes her head. 

“Right outside on the left.” she replies. 

“I’m going to head up and grab the roster for the day.” Mycah tells her as Jon walks out and he too leaves, leaving Arya and Gendry alone. When they’re gone, Gendry turns to Arya. 

“So, you wanna grab dinner tonight?” he asks.

Arya scowls. “Why, so you can weasel information out of me for your case?” she accuses. 

To his credit, Gendry merely smirks, unoffended by the accusation. “No, actually, I have an idea for that door in your basement and I wanted to run it by you. Thought we could have dinner while we’re at it.” 

Arya deflates. “Yeah, that sounds nice. It’s only my second day and I’m already exhausted.” Gendry chuckles. “I get done around seven tonight.” 

“Alright, I’ll be there around seven thirty then.” She merely nods and he turns to leave. 

When he’s gone, she goes about her morning, finishing up paperwork and looking into the patients she’ll be seeing later in the day. When that’s finished she goes up to the recovery room to look in on Danny. He’s sitting up against his pillows when she gets there, but despite this, he still looks awful. Arya tries not to let her concern show. 

“I heard the nurses talking about the police.” Danny says, his voice pained. She makes a note for the nurse to increase his pain medication. “Were they here?” 

“They were, but we sent them away. You’ve already said you don’t want to talk to them.” she explains. “And unless that’s changed, we won’t let them in without a warrant.” 

“Thank you.” he replies. She smiles at him, but the optimism she pours into it doesn’t seem to reach him. 


	2. The Man She Loves

Cool, Calm, Clinical

Chapter 2: The Man She Can Love

xXx

At the end of her second day of work, Arya stops at the top of the stone stairs in her front yard and smiles at the sight before her. Gendry, head down as he stretches his neck, sits on her front steps, fresh from work, a bag of groceries on the steps beside him. It’s been a few days since she’s seen him, three to be exact, but it’s been a long three days with a lot of time to think. 

When Arya was a teenager, she didn’t date, not like her sister or her brothers. She liked people, she was social. She went to parties and had fun, was loud and boisterous and the center of attention at gatherings of her peers. But she didn’t date. It wasn’t that she didn’t find the idea unappealing or even that she just wasn’t interested, she just never found anyone she wanted to devote so much time to. She wasn’t a prude by any stretch of the imagination, and so, dating or not her “virginity” hadn't lasted long passed her sixteenth birthday, but none of those boys had held her interest in a way that made her want to date them. 

As she got older things changed, she met new people with a wider variety of experiences and she found that she was more open to the idea of at least trying her luck with someone. She’d had a boyfriend in Medical School, but it only lasted a few months and most of her other experiences in college were casual. Outside of school she hadn’t had much time for dating which was more than likely the cause of her only other relationship’s eventual breakdown. 

Her point? Well, with careful consideration after being dropped off by Gendry on Friday night, Arya had come to the conclusion that the feelings that popped up meant she was ready for something more in her life. That she was lonely and was finally ready to invest the time and energy into an intimate relationship. The problem was, every time she thought about the prospect of going out and meeting someone Gendry would pop into her head. 

At first she assumed it was her subconscious’ way of telling her that as much as she loved people, getting comfortable around them was an entirely different matter and that it may take time she didn’t have to do so, effectively ending any relationship before it began. But as the weekend progressed, she slowly began to realize the dreaded truth…

Sansa and Ygritte were right. 

“Hey.” Gendry’s voice pulls her from her thoughts and she focuses on him again. He’s looking at her now, still sitting, and the lopsided little smile he sports whenever she teases him is present. 

“Hey.” she replies, continuing her journey up the walk. 

“I would have picked you up if I had known you were going to walk.” he tells her as she stops at the bottom of the stairs. 

“I’m sure, but it’s still relatively nice out, I thought I’d enjoy it before it gets too cold and wet.” she gestures to the reusable bag of groceries. “What’s this?” 

Gendry looks down as if he has to remind himself what’s sitting there. “Oh, yeah,” he replies looking back at her. “I thought I’d make dinner tonight.” 

“You cook?” she asks, almost accusingly. In the year or so they’ve found themselves gravitating toward each other, Arya had cooked for him several times when fast food and takeout lost its appeal. She had, admittedly of her own accord, assumed he didn’t cook, or at the very least wasn’t particularly good. 

That lopsided grin is back, and he rubs the back of his head with his hand, smoothing down his hair in a kind of nervous gesture. “Not as well as you.” 

She squints at him accusingly, planting her hands on her hips. “I’ll be the judge of that.” 

His smile turns into a grin and he stands, grabbing the back and stepping aside to let her pass. 

Sometime later, Arya watches in amusement as Gendry moves around her kitchen. He’s removed his suit jacket and tie, both laying over the back of a dining room chair. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and he still wears his firearm on his hip. It’s an interesting sight. A little too interesting, if she were honest. He looks handsome, she realizes with a slight feeling of dread. It isn’t the first time she’s thought he looked handsome, but it was the first time since she had taken into consideration how she felt about his appearance when she knew she felt affection for him. He had told her, as they walked in, that he thought she looked nice all dressed up for work and she had pushed down the butterflies that danced in her stomach at the compliment.

Gendry’s movements around the kitchen aren’t very graceful, but he knows what he’s doing, clearly, and judging by the smell it’ll be delicious. It’s definitely what she would call stereotypical bachelor food, although she’s pleasantly surprised when he puts the burgers on a rack in the oven instead of frying them. He makes his own sauce and enlists her help in cutting vegetables, which she does as she sips at the wine he brought along. 

“So,” she says as she slices through a large tomato. “The door.” 

Gendry’s expression sours for a moment and she resists the urge to laugh at him. Arya’s basement is the typical basement for the neighborhood. It’s unfinished and a little damp. If she put the work into it, it would be the perfect bonus room, but she’s not entirely sure she wants to. When she moved in, like the attic it had been filled with all sorts of boxes from previous owners and she’d cleaned it out with Lommy almost immediately so she could get the water heater inspected. 

The basement itself had three rooms. The main area where the washer and driver were, a small room where the water heater and HVAC system sat and a third room, which was blocked off from the rest of the area by a thick wooden door. Her father had said it was most likely a pantry for canned and jarred goods, but either way, in the three years she’d lived there she had never been able to find out. The wooden door that closed off the room from the rest of the basement was warped and sealed shut over time. According to the real estate agent no one had been able to get it open for years, and most of the previous owners had just given up on trying and left it alone. 

Well, none of the previous owners, to her knowledge, were called  _ The Bull _ by his colleagues. A name he was currently living up to. 

“Alright, so, I was at the hardware store the other day and I just so happened to walk past the equipment rental counter.” he explains. 

“Oh no.” Arya mutters shaking her head. 

“No, no, hear me out.” he insists. “I can rent a hand held saw and grinder.”

“You want to cut the door down?” 

“I think at this point there’s no use trying to save it. It’s not budging.” he tells her. “I figure we can try to cut the hinges out of the wood with the grinder and then cut the edges off the door to make room to pop it off.” 

Arya drops her head in her hands. “Just don’t hurt yourself okay.” she says and it’s the closest she’ll get to relenting. She knows he’s not going to let it go, so her only real option is to get out of the way. 

When she looks up at him again he looks distinctly pleased. “Good thing I have a top surgeon for a friend if I do.” She simply rolls her eyes. “Seriously though, when did you decide to go back into practice?” 

“Not long after the bank robbery.” she explains. “I just… well, everything that happened, it sort of reminded me how much I loved the adrenaline rush of emergency care and I guess I just thought it was about time I tried to get my life back on track.” 

“Well good, I’m glad.” he looks away, wiping his hands on a dish towel. “I’ll be honest though, I’m going to miss being able to call off and just fuck off here all day.” 

Arya laughs. “Hey, you know you’re welcome here anytime.”

“Sure, but it’s… not the same if you're not here.” he tells her, heat rising on his face. He looks away again, fidgeting with the various utensils laid out on the counter. She can feel the heat rising on her own face and finds herself paying a little too much attention to her wine glass. 

The tension is broken, only by the timer going off and Gendry busies himself finishing dinner. 

“That was amazing.” she tells him as she helps clean up. 

“Damn, this means I have to cook more doesn’t it?” he teases. 

Arya laughs, passing him a wet plate to dry. “Absolutely.” 

They fall into a comfortable silence and Arya is struck by the sheer domesticity of it all. She‘s spent so much of the last two years alone that the idea of something more with someone was so strange, and yet, as she stands shoulder to shoulder with Gendry at the kitchen sink she can picture doing this with him every night. 

As the thought comes, it quickly sours. How can she possibly have a relationship with someone she’s lying to everyday. Sure she could tell him about his mother, but then, like everyone who came before him, he would eventually fade out of her life, drifting as far from the painful memories her presence would invoke. One way or another she would lose him. Whether it be because she was honest and he left on his own, or because she continued to keep this secret, tainting her feelings and any relationship they managed to form. 

Arya shakes off the sudden dark thoughts and says: “Can I ask you something? I understand if you can’t answer though.” 

“Sure, what is it?”

“What exactly do you think Danny Sucro did?” 

Gendry hesitates before sighing long and deep. “Honestly, I don’t know, but I don’t think he’s a suspect, not if what you said about his injuries being so bad is true.” he explains. “If anything though he’s a witness.” 

“Whatever he witnessed has him completely petrified.” she adds. 

“I’ll bet.” he says. “What we know so far is basic at best. He was at his grandmother’s house. Neighbors say they heard a loud argument and screaming. Danny was seen running from the house and not long after two older men ran out in the opposite direction.” he sighs. “Those two men are more than likely the culprits, but there has to be a reason they attacked Danny and his grandmother.” 

“It couldn’t have been a robbery?” Arya asks. 

Gendry shook his head. “It looked like it at first, but they tore the house up and didn’t take anything.” 

“So they were probably looking for something specific.”

“Most likely.” he pauses, finishing drying a plate and setting it back in the cabinet. “Have you talked to Jon lately?” he asks, obviously trying to sound aloof.

“Not really, actually. He’s been busy with work and his girls.” she replies. “Why?” 

Gendry shakes his head. “I don’t know. He’s been acting weird for a few months now. Since he was transferred from his old precinct actually.”

“Really?” Gendry nods. “He never mentioned not liking the transfer. And Ygritte hasn’t mentioned anything strange with him.” 

Gendry sighs again. “He’s probably just tired. With work and his family, he doesn’t seem like he has a lot of free time.” 

Arya can see he doesn’t particularly believe that, but she doesn’t push, making a mental note to discuss it with Ygritte the next time she sees her. 

They finish cleaning not long after and as Arya reaches for what’s left of her wine, Gendry begins to shift nervously on his feet. 

“Listen,” he begins, jamming his hands into the pockets of his slacks to stop from fidgeting. “I know this might seem out of the blue, but I was thinking… well… I was wondering if maybe you’d like to…” Gendry stops short as Arya’s phone goes off and he flounders a bit. 

“Sorry, hang on.” she replies, reaching for the device on the counter. “It’s Mycah.”

“Who?” he asks. 

“Dr. Cleaver.” she says as she answers. 

_ “Arya, I’m sorry to call you at home.” _ Mycah says by way of greeting.  _ “I just got a call from the clinic, Danny Sucro snuck out during shift change.” _

“What?” she exclaims, watching Gendry’s entire demeanor change with the outburst. He pulls his hands out of his pockets, standing up straight and watching her, like he’s waiting for her to tell him what to do, what to fix. “That’s not good.”

_ “I know.” _

“Did you call the police?” 

_ “Yes, I talked to your cousin. He's on his way here now.” _

“Okay, Gen- Sergeant Waters is here, I’ll let him know what’s going on.” Arya hangs him, rubbing a palm over her face. “Fuck.” she curses. 

“What’s wrong?” Gendry asks. 

“Danny’s gone.”

“Dead?” he steps closer, ready to comfort her. 

She shakes her head. “No, he snuck out of the clinic on shift change. Jon is on his way there now.” she looks up at him. “You have to find him.” she says adamantly. “He’s not going to make it out there.” she huffs. “I wasn’t exaggerating this morning. The slightest provocation will reopen his wounds and he will bleed out.” 

Gendry nods, turning and moving toward the dining room. “Okay, stay here, I’ll call you when I find anything.” he insists, wasting no time with his jacket and tie. Arya follows him to the door. He turns as he opens it, looking back at her. “Just try to stay calm, I’ll let you know as soon as I know anything.” 

And with that he turns and walks out quickly. 

xXx

“Is it him?” Gendry asks, approaching Jon where he’s crouched over a white sheet on the ground. They’re currently in an alley six blocks from Stag’s Head Clinic. It’s nearing six in the morning, and since leaving Arya’s home the evening before, he hasn’t had any occasion to sleep. 

Jon sighs as Gendry stops beside him. “Yeah, it’s him. Coroner says there are fresh stab wounds.” 

“So he didn’t bleed out from his old wounds. Whoever attacked him Monday morning, found him.” 

“I’d bet money on that.” Jon replies. He sighs again, looking to the coroner. “Get us a report as soon as you can.” he nods and Jon turns, heading back toward the mouth of the alley. Gendry follows. “Witnesses?”

“One. The guy who called it in.” Gendry explains. “He never saw Danny, but he heard the scream and saw an older white man run out of the alley, his face was mostly obscured. He was wearing blue jeans and a grey hoody which had blood on it.”

“Old white guy?” Jon asks, and despite his attempts to cover it, Gendry can hear the knowing in his tone. Maybe it’s only because Gendry is paying attention, but he can’t help but to hear it. Something with Jon hasn’t been right for a while now and while they may not have been the best of friends, they were friendly before his transfer from the third to the fifth precinct. “Rules out local gangs.” 

“But not much else.” Gendry agrees. 

They both climb into their car, Gendry behind the wheel and drive in silence for a while before; “Where are you going?” Jon asks when Gendry takes a turn in the opposite direction of the precinct. 

“I promised Arya I would let her know what happened. She should be getting up for work about now.” Gendry replies. The look on Jon’s face sours a bit, before he schools his expression again. “Something wrong?” Gendry continues, too tired to give a damn about pretending that nothing is wrong. 

“Nothing.” Jon replies simply, but he says it too forcefully for Gendry to believe that. He sighs. “It's just… you and my cousin have gotten pretty close in the last year.” Jon finally continues. 

“Sure, we have.” Gendry replies suddenly wishing he had just let it go.

“I, uh, I’m curious as to how that happened.” 

Gendry shrugs. “I just went over to check up on her after the whole incident with Hagen and we got to talking.”

“About what?” 

“Mostly about her house. I saw she was doing work on it and I have some experience with that.” 

“Do you really?” 

Gendry nods. “Yeah, one of my foster families owned a flipping business.” 

“Foster families?” Jon sounds truly confused, a fact that derails anything Gendry intends to ask in return. 

“Yeah, I thought you knew that.” Jon shakes his head, looking at Gendry as though he’s seeing him for the first time. “I was raised in foster care after my mum died when I was nine.” 

“No other family?” he pushes. 

“No, they made it very clear I wasn’t family.” Gendry mutters, hands gripping the steering wheel a bit too hard. He releases the grip as he pulls into Arya’s driveway. Turning the car off and he prepares to get out, stopping short when he notices Jon watching him. “What?” 

“Nothing.” Jon shakes his head again. “I just… I think I was wrong about you.” 

Gendry squints at the man, suspicion clear on his face. “I’m not sure I want to know what that means.” and without waiting for an answer he gets out of the car, just barely catching; “Probably not.” from Jon as he shuts the door. 


	3. The People She Will Save

Cool, Calm, Clinical

Chapter 3: The People She Will Save

xXx

Arya wakes to the feeling of being watched. It is an overwhelming feeling that she cannot ignore no matter how hard she tries. After receiving a message from Gendry a few hours after he left, stating that no new information had come to light, she had decided to try to get some sleep. She still needed to work in the morning after all and she trusted Gendry to get a hold of her as soon as he knew anything. 

Arya searches the room, her eyes straining against the dark, but she sees nothing and eventually gives up, turning on to her side as she lays back down, her eyes closed already as she hits the pillow. She tries to relax but the feeling of being watched is worse now. She opens them again, forcing the startled scream back down her throat. Beside her, lies Danny, his eyes wide with pain. The once sparkling brown orbs are now pale, sightly spheres, staring directly at her unseeing. 

“Danny?” she forces out, the word scratching her throat. She can’t move, every muscle in her body locked up as the weight of his presence settles beside her. He looks like he’s trying to say something, but his mouth won’t open, his lips bulging like there’s something more than teeth and tongue behind them. She hears him moan in pain, whining in fear. 

Finally his lips part and with them comes a tide of blood, pouring from his mouth and soaking into the pillow. Arya reacts, screeching as she jumps back instinctively, scrambling toward the edge of the bed and eventually over the side onto the floor with a heavy thud. She gets up as her heart rate calms, peeking over the side of the bed to find him gone, the pillow unmarred. 

As she slowly gets to her feet she knows, instinctively what this vision means, and yet there’s a tiny spark of hope that makes sleep fitful for the rest of the night. 

When the sun rises, so does she. Feeling tired and drawn, she makes her way downstairs to make coffee. There’s a dull ache in her chest and several more just like it around her abdomen. She recognizes those places as where she sutured Danny’s knife wounds and the hope begins to fade away slowly. She knows from experience that it wasn’t just a nightmare, but she manages to cling to some semblance of hope right up until Gendry and Jon walk into her kitchen a little while later. 

“He’s dead, isn’t he?” 

Jon shares a weighted look with Gendry before nodding. “Yes, did he come to see you?” 

“In a manner of speaking.” she tells them, sipping her coffee. She gestures for them to help themselves, which Gendry does. “We’re going to need to know everything you can tell us about him.” 

“There really isn’t much. He was stabbed three times with a non serrated blade, no hilt. The blade punctured a lung and lacerated the small intestine, but not enough to cause a rupture. Most of the trouble was internal bleeding. We managed to fix and inflate the lung, but the lacerations were in delicate places and therefore delicate themselves. On top of that, his primary doctor sent over his records. He had a history of anemia which would explain why he struggled to regain his red blood cell count after we started transfusions.” 

“You said he was only stabbed three times?” Gendry asks. She nods. “That would confirm the coroner’s preliminary.” He tells Jon, who silently agrees. 

“How’s that?” Arya asks. 

Gendry sighs. “He didn’t reopen his wounds. The running theory is that whoever attacked him in the first place, found him last night.” 

“He didn’t say anything to you about his attacker?” Jon asks. Arya shakes her head. 

“Only that he didn’t think it was safe to talk to police.” 

“Still not a lot to go on.” Gendry mutters. 

“You’re going to find who did this, right?” she asks. 

“We’ll do everything we can.” Jon replies simply. “But sometimes, cases don’t get solved, no matter how much we work them. The evidence just isn’t there.” 

“We’ve only just started though.” Gendry chimes in quickly. “There’s still a lot of work to do before we even think about shelving the case.” 

Arya feels herself relax. Logically, she knows that not every case will be solved, the fact that Gendry spends so much of his free time looking into cold cases is proof enough of that, but there’s just something about a case involving one of her patients, where the idea that it could end up in a file room somewhere, almost forgotten, that doesn’t sit well with her. Danny Sucro was sixteen, he didn’t deserve to die like that, terrified and alone, with his whole life still in front of him. 

She shakes herself of the morose thoughts. “I have to get ready for work. Do you guys need anything else?” 

“No, we’ll probably need to talk to the nurses on staff, but nothing else from you at the moment.” Gendry tells her, finishing his coffee and washing out the cup. He puts it back in the cupboard where he found it and turns to Jon who's watching him pensively. Arya looks between them, noting the familiar way Jon looks Gendry over. He once did that to Lommy before he realized Lommy had more interest in him than her.

“We’ll probably see you later then.” Gendry tells her, heading for the door. Jon gets up to follow and Arya calls out to stop him. 

“Oh, Jon, mum sent a message for you.” she says. 

“I’ll meet you outside.” Gendry tells him, continuing on his way. 

“What’s up with Aunt Catelyn? Ow!” Jon scowls, pulling his arm away from Arya. He rubs at the spot where she pinched him. “What was that for?” 

“Stop doing that.” 

“Doing what?” 

“Acting weird around Gendry because we’re friends.” 

Jon looks outraged. “I’m not.” 

“Yes you are, you're treating him badly because you’re getting all protective. Knock it off, we’re just friends.” she insists. 

Jon flounders, she assumes trying to dispute what she’s saying, but he can’t, eventually deflating. “Alright, I’m sorry. I know you can take care of yourself. I just worry is all.” 

Arya sighs. “I know, and I appreciate it.” she hugs him. “But Gendry is your partner and you need to work with him, so don’t worry about me, okay.” 

“Okay.” he relents, smiling softly at her, pulling her into a hug. “I better go. We need to get back to the precinct.” 

Arya simply nods, following him toward the door and trying her best not to dwell on how uncharacteristically easy he relented. 

xXx

“It’s weird.” Gendry mutters, removing styrofoam containers from the brown paper bag later that night. He sets them on the table top of Arya’s coffee table. Arya returns from the kitchen, carrying a beer in each hand. She sets them with the takeaway containers and slips into her seat on the sofa.

“What is?” 

“You saw the clinic, where Danny was bedded down?”

“Sure.” she nods. 

“Just from the sight of everything, it was obvious he didn’t plan to run.” 

“Does that matter?” she asks. 

“Yeah, with his injuries it absolutely does. It means he was scared, spooked into running. He didn’t take his clothes or the possessions he had on him. He just ran.” 

“You think someone snuck into the clinic and tried to kill him?” 

“It’s possible. It would also explain how his killer found him again so quickly.” Gendry explains, handing her one of the containers. “Dr. Cleaver seems to think it’s not possible for someone to sneak into the clinic and of course if that’s true then it implicates one of the staff.”

“Why does he think it’s impossible?” Arya asks confused. 

“Something about being protected. Apparently because the clinic treats injuries no questions asked, gang members will routinely come in with injuries obtained in illegal dealings. And in order to keep the clinic open and capable of doing what it does, there’s a spoken rule that no member of any gang may conduct gang business on the premises.”

“Well that’s all well and good, but that implies a gang connection.” Gendry had explained earlier that the descriptions of the suspects and the fact that Danny had no gang ties most likely meant this had nothing to do with local gangs. 

Gendry nods. “Right, but until we know more we’re letting everyone believe we think it was a gang hit. Jon seems to think that’s the best course of action to lure the suspects into a false sense of security.” 

“Makes sense.” she replies. They eat in silence for a bit before she continues. “To answer your question though, I do think someone could have snuck in.” 

“What makes you say that?”

“He ran out on the shift change and I’ve seen two shift changes so far. They’re loud and messy. The nurses are all talking and laughing with each other and telling stories and swapping info on patients for the incoming shift. It’d be pretty easy to get lost in that chaos.” 

“Damn, I’ll let Jon know.” again they lapse into silence as they eat. “How are you holding up by the way?” he asks as they finish. She shrugs. 

“I know that it’s not my fault that he died.” she says slowly, feeling out the words. “And I know that I did everything I could for him.” she continues. “But it seriously sucks that this kid, who had his whole life in front of him, was snuffed out for reasons unknown. It sucks that I couldn’t do anything more for him.” 

Gendry smiles softly at her. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were seeing a therapist with talk like that.” 

She grins. “Your boss's wife actually.” 

He guffaws. “You are not. Really?” she nods. “Good, she's good people. Started out as the department shrink until she married Davos back in the seventies.” 

Arya hums. “It’s weird.” 

“What is?” 

“I know logically that I’ve changed and that things won’t be the same as they were. I probably won’t ever go back to the hospital, but… there’s a part of me that feels like I’ve been doing this all along. A part of me that’s looking forward to the future.” she smiles softly, eyes focused on a point out in front of her. “I haven’t felt that way in a very long time.” 

What she feels, for the first time in years, is hope. The kind of hope that carries you forward through the darkest of times, that reminds you that no matter what, you're not alone. As she looks up at Gendry, his smile bright and just for her, she grins back, uncertain of the future but ready for it nonetheless. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise this isn't going to be left open forever. Danny is part of a much larger plot just like Terry and Lommy. We will get back to them. In the meantime, as I said before this story is a turning point, a bridge if you will to what yinz are all waiting for.

**Author's Note:**

> Abriviations:   
> MD- Medical Doctor  
> FNP: Family Nurse Practioner  
> F.I.C.S- Fellow of The International College of Surgeons


End file.
